A Bloodstained Love Story
by DreamofRosey
Summary: For as long as Rose can remember she has been alone. She's the lone survivor after her clan was mysteriously murdered 6 years ago, and the people of her village has made it clear that they want nothing to do with her. They even send her away "to protect the village". Will her new life in the leaf be any easier, and will she really be able to cut all ties with the sand?
1. Prologue

**Rose's POV:**

Looking at my reflection I just can't help but to sigh. I can't really say I like what I see. My long, wavy, crimson hair reached my waist; my eyes had an odd brownish color that never seemed too look the same twice. My lips were naturally red - not a bright red, not at all like the color you'd get from makeup, but more of a subtle, natural red - and my skin were like porcelain - white but not really pale. How my skin could stay white was a mystery thou, seeing as I spent practically every day out in the sun. And since I worked out every day I had a pretty nice figure too… For a ten-year-old that is. So I guess I can't really complain, I mean my features weren't bad, but still something about me seemed to scare people, they never looked me in the eye and always kept a safe distance between them and me. Maybe that was because I belonged to the "Great" Kasai-clan, but I don't know, no one seemed to know that much about them. Or maybe they could sense my secret, my dark and very dangerous secret…

_'Is there something bothering you, child?'_

"No, not really… I was just wondering why people hate me. I mean, everyone around here avoid me… Is there something wrong with me?"

_'I wouldn't say that they hate you, they just don't know you.'_

"But no one even tries! They avoid me as if I had the plague or something!"

_'That's not true, Kenza and Silver doesn't avoid you at all. Quite the opposite actually.'_

"I guess, but they kind of don't have a choice. They're my bodyguards _and _my cousins, and they're not particularly popular with the villagers either."

_'Then, what about Temari and Kankuro? Aren't they your friends? And that redheaded boy? Gaara? He doesn't treat you that bad, does he? Thou, I would stay away from that one if I were you. He seems very dangerous to his surroundings.'_

"I don't think Gaara is _that _bad, I mean he don't really speak to me either, but if anyone I think he could understand me. He's a jinchuuriki too… And Temari and Kankuro doesn't really speak much to me either, they might not avoid me as much as the rest of the does, but they're not particularly friendly either."

_'Well, this _is _the fate of the Kasai-clan. They will never really have a place to call home.'_

"I wasn't talking about homes Ten Ten…"

_'Perhaps…' _her voice slowly faded away again, back into the darkest corners of my mind.

I sighed before quickly starting to put on my regular ninja outfit; a high ponytail, irregular net shorts, a long-sleeved net undershirt and pieces of netting around my left ankle and calf. Short marine blue shorts and a white tank top. Black boots, hilts and pouches for all of my weapons around my belt, my weapon pouch tied around my thigh. I tied my forehead protector around my neck and made sure the hilt to my katana was strapped tightly inside of my marine blue ninja vest before putting it on. I put all of my weapons in place and make sure that everything is in place before I picked up the beautiful wooden box next to me. While opening it I can't help but too feel a strange sense of pride over having the beautiful ivory and ruby daggers in my possession, they never ever left my sight. After admiring them for a bit longer I put them into their hilts, one on each side of my hip. I look in the mirror, thinking that I look ready for just about anything.

"Milady" a voice behind me said. "It's time to leave."

"Yes" I agreed.


	2. Chapter 1 - Meeting my Rival

**Rose's POV:**

Silver and Kenza obviously didn't care about the mission, they had been bickering all the way to the Land of Fire. We had heard a rumor saying that two of our targets were after a bridge builder named Tazuna, his current location? The village hidden in the leaves. Since it was only two hours off our original course we decided it would be for the best if we checked it out.

"You're so lazy Kenza! Can't you stop whining for just one minute?!"

"I'm not lazy Silver! I just don't see why we have to go this far for ONE little mission!"

"This mission isn't SMALL! It's a huge _honor_ for us that the Kazekage sent us on such an important mission! Why can't you see that?"  
"What's so important about it? This Gatou person, why is he SUCH an important target? Eh?"

"Can't the two of you shut up!? It doesn't matter what you think about the damn mission, we are on it and it will definitely fail if you two keep bickering like two little girls!" I interrupted them angrily after listening to the same thing for the last couple of days.

"We're sorry Rose…" Both of them said while looking down at their feet.

"Yeah, yeah, just be quiet now, okay?"  
"Yes Ma'am!" They said while saluting me, making me sigh.

"Shut up!"

The rumors had been correct; two Chuunin-rank ninja were hiding up ahead, waiting for someone. Now I just had to wait for the perfect moment to attack–

"LET'S GO!" someone yelled further down the road, interrupting my thoughts.

"What are you so excited about?" a girls voice said in an annoyed tone.

"Cause… I've never left the village before" the boy said, still with that extremely excited voice.

"…HEY! Am I really going to be safe with this brat?" an old man's voice questioned. That had to be the bridge builder, right?

"Haha… Well, I am a Jounin, don't worry" a third person said.

"HEY, OLD MAN! DON'T MESS WITH NINJAS!" the first person shouted "I'M INCREDIBLE! ONE DAY I WILL TAKE ON THE SUPER ELITE NINJA TITLE, HOKEAGE! MY NAME IS UZUMAKI NARUTO! REMEMBER IT!"

_'This boy, Uzumaki Naruto, seems like an interesting character…'_

_'You think Ten Ten? Maybe… But he's can't be much of a ninja, shouting like that. He's not even considering the possibility that someone might be lying in wait for them.'_

_'Yes, your right… And shouting out his name like that… Now everyone in a ten kilometer radius will know exactly where he is, both friend and foe.'_

_'He's definitely going to end up getting himself killed, so why do you think he's so interesting?'_

_'I don't know, I have this feeling…'_ she said, her voice slowly fading away again.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" the loud boy yelled, snapping me out of my thoughts, again.

"I said stop, moron."

I followed the loud pack of ninjas silently, knowing the two targets did too. I left my teammates behind a while ago. It's easier to move undetected alone.

"Umm… Tazuna-san?" the girl asked.

"What?"

"You're from the wave country, right?"

"What about it?"

"Umm… Kakashi sensei? Do they have ninjas in that country too?" she asked her sensei shyly. These ninjas weren't the smartest out there, were they? They're loud; they don't know what countries have ninja… Do they even know how to fight properly? How on earth are they going to survive? I feel kind of sorry for them. But that name… Kakashi… Why does it feel so familiar?

"No, not in the wave country. But… In most other countries the culture and customs may be different but hidden villages exist, and so do ninjas" the sensei answered. And then it began… A whole lecture about the five great countries and the Kages… Didn't they learn that already? While they were still in school? Really…

That Kakashi must have noticed something, he looked suspicious… But then again, he should have noticed _something_, I mean, there are six ninjas trailing them, three really close by, and he _is_ a Jounin, right? Suddenly my targets decided to make a move, and they began their attack on the strange group of ninja.

**Third Person's POV:**

Once an opening appeared Rose moved quickly, beheading the first target in less than a second. Her eyes moved around the group, taking in the shocked faces of the leaf ninja, a small but scary smile playing on her lips. She took a couple of slow steps towards the second target, before she seemed to disappear for a moment and then appeared behind him and he fell to the ground, dead.

**Rose's POV:**

The other guy's head fell to the ground with a low 'thud'. They had been completely helpless, dead within seconds of my attack. Pathetic.

"Rose, do you hear me?" Sensei asked through the wireless radio in my ear.

"Loud and clear, Sensei!"

"Good, but what's going on over there? All of us could feel your chakra increasing just now."

"Oh, really? Well, the two targets are eliminated, but…"

"Yeah, but?"

"Can you hurry and seal them away, I'm starting to feel sick!" I couldn't help it, right? Dead bodies just creeps me out, that's all…

"Silver and Kenza should arrive at any second now." The second he spoke those words the two idiots flew out between the trees.

"ROSE!" the two of them screamed in my ear, making me flinch.

"Yes… Calm down and seal those bodies away before you join them as well!" I growled.

"Still scared of dead bodies Rose?" Kenza asked, raising an eyebrow.

"What about it?" I snapped.

"Uh… Nothing really, just that I don't understand it… You kill someone every other day…"

"So what, Kenza!" Silver snapped. "You're still afraid of flames, and your name is Kasai… That's pathetic…"

"I don't get it… What does that have to do with my name?" Kenza said, sounding really confused about it.

"Your name means flame, so how in the world can you be afraid of fire?"

"I still don't get it Silver…"

"KENZA YOU IDIOT!"

"WHAT DID I DO NOW!"

"THE WRONG FREAKING SCROLL, STUPID!"

"STOP YELLING AT ME FOR EVERY LITTLE THING, SILVER!"

"SHUT UP!" I had had it with them… Someone help me, or they will end up as the two targets they were working on…

"Sorry Rose… Really, we are…"

"JUST BE QUIET AND DO YOUR JOB SO THAT WE CAN GET GOING ALREADY!"

"Yes Milady…"

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" I walked over to a tree a bit further down the road, sat down and tried to calm down.

"You did well today Rose, as always" a calm and mysterious voice said from behind the tree I was leaning against. I could hear the smile in his voice, even thou I couldn't see his face. Annoying…

"Thank you Sensei."

A couple of deep breaths later I noticed the ruckus going on further up the road, around where Silver and Kenza would be… They were so dead this time…

"SHUT UP!" I screamed at them, only to realize it wasn't those two who were being noisy, and I couldn't help but blush at the embarrassment. But wait, was that guys hand bleeding? He must have gotten a scratch from the claws of those two ninja… He should definitely have someone take a look at that, or it would turn out badly. I had been able to smell that poison from far away…

_'Worried about him?'_

_'No, of course not, I don't have anything to do with him, now do I?'_

_'Well, not yet anyway…'_

_'What do you mean TenTen?'_

_'Oh, nothing, child, nothing. But why not give him some of that antidote you always carry around? It's not like you're enemies, are you?'_

_'You're right, I should, shouldn't I?'_

_'Yes…'_

I was just about to get up and offer him some of my special antidotes when he did something completely unexpected. He stabbed his wounded hand with a kunai!

"NARUTO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" the girl with the pink hair screamed at the blond boy, but he seemed to be in too deep thoughts to even notice her.

"With this kunai.." he said. "I'll protect the old man. We're continuing the mission!"

"Naruto… It's good that you are releasing the poison, but…" the silver-haired Sensei said. "Anymore and you'll die from lack of blood." The smile on his face definitely creped me out… What kind of person was he? Smiling in a situation like that?

"NO! THAT'S BAD! I CAN'T DIE FROM SOMETHING LIKE THIS!"

"HAHAHAHA!" when the boy's face went from super-determined to completely terrified I couldn't help myself anymore! It was just so hilarious that he hadn't thought of the consequences at all!

"WHAT'S SO FUNNY!" he yelled, and everyone turned to look at me, and the leaf ninja must definitely have forgotten that I was there, because their faces looked at me as if they were wondering how I had gotten there.

"That reminds me, who are you? And what are ninja from the sand village doing here?" the Sensei said, his name still disturbing me. Why couldn't I remember?

"Me?" I said, pointing at myself, acting a bit stupid.

"Yes."

"I'm Rose, why do you ask?"

"…" he had just finished putting the bandage on the crazy boy's hand, and he started to look a bit annoyed, his eyebrow twitching slightly.

"I don't know if I can tell you why we are here, you have to ask Sensei about that, but we're not enemies, well, to you guys anyway…"

"Your Sensei?"

"Yes, we are Sand-village Genin, and thus we have a Sensei, but, yeah…"

"YOU'RE GENIN!" the loud, blond boy who went by the name Naruto yelled, a bit too loud for my taste.

"Mhm." I said and poked my tongue out, teasing him. "Actually we graduated from the academy this year."

"THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE! I DON'T BELIEVE YOU!" and there he goes again, giving me a headache…

"Maybe you and I should talk, Kakashi" my Sensei's voice said from behind us.

"Yes, we should." The way they talked to each other… Surely they had a past. But how? When? This is all so confusing!

"No, you're not!"

"Yes, I am!"

"NO, you're not!"

"YES, I am!"

"NO, you're NOT!"

"YES, I AM!"

After almost ten minutes of fighting about if I was a Genin or not with Naruto I was very impressed with my patience. I hadn't even tried to kill him, yet. I must have made some sort of progress in my training, but I don't know if I can take it for too much longer.

"What are you two fighting about?" that Kakashi-guy said, appearing right behind Naruto, who fell backwards in surprise.

"Hahaha!"

"Don't do that Kakashi-Sensei!"

"Do what?"

"That!"

"What?"

"You know, appear out of nowhere!"

"I didn't… But anyway, we have decided that we should stick together for a while since we're still going in the same direction and all."

"WHAT!" both Naruto and I yelled at the same time. "TRAVEL WITH THAT PERSON!"

"Yes, Rose, since they…" he said pointing at Kakashi. "… are escorting or targets target…"

"Smart, Sensei! Then, they might show up and try to kill that old man again!"

"Yes, exactly."

"I get it, but still… I don't want travel with that guy!" I said and pointed at Naruto.

"I don't wanna travel with her either, Kakashi Sensei!"

"Oh, come on! It's just for a little while anyway!" the Sensei answered tiredly.

"Well… Sensei…" I said quietly. "Don't blame me if something happens, okay?" A big smile on my face.

These ninja was seriously slow… Why did Sensei agree to accompany them? We would have been there hours ago of it wasn't for them…

"What thick mist, I can't see ahead" Sakura said.

"We should see the bridge soon. The wave country is at the base of the bridge" the guy steering the boat said to us, and immediately they started to look around.

"WOW! IT'S HUGE!" Naruto - of course - screamed, completely forgetting why we were _sneaking_ into the Wave Country through the mist in the first place.

"Moron, keep it down or someone will notice!" I said, hoping he would listen for once.

"Yeah, why do you think we are hiding in the mist and not using the engine? We'll be in deep trouble if Gatou finds us" the boat-person filled in – I couldn't remember his name, I hadn't really listened to the introductions - making Naruto look nervous. Serves him right! Even thou, I'm not so sure about the trouble part…

"We'll be there soon. Tazuna… It looks like we've avoided detection so far, but just in case, we'll take the route that has vegetation. It will make it harder for the enemies to spot us."

"Thanks."

"Hehe." Naruto couldn't help himself as usual, but at least he kept it down a bit this time. "Wow." Thou, I have to say I agreed with him this time, it was quite beautiful with all the trees coming up through the surface of the water, hiding most parts of the village from sight. It looked kind of mysterious.

Once the boat stopped, we quickly got out of it.

"Hurry up! I don't want to stay here for too much longer, if an enemy spots us with them, we're done for!"

"Yeah, you're right, Rose. We really should get going now. Silver, Kenza are you coming?"

"Yes Sensei! Bye now, everyone!" Silver said and Kenza simply followed my lead when I left the others behind.


	3. Chapter 2 - The Wave Country

**Rose's POV:**

The sun was already rising, and so far we had noting. No clue whatsoever to where we could find the man named Gatou and the men he hired. Some time ago thou, we had felt a weird chakra from where we had left the leaf ninja. Maybe we should go back and see what going on?

"What are you doing, Rose!? Watch out!" Kenza yelled at me from the front just before I crashed into the branch I thought I was about to land on. Great. Good job, Rose.

"Rose, are you okay?" Silver asked worriedly. "You've never fallen out of a tree before."  
"Sorry, guys. I wasn't paying attention."  
"This isn't like you!" Kenza said, looking seriously worried.

"Well… Maybe she were thinking of that Leaf Genin? The blonde one?" Silver said, teasing me.

"And why would I be thinking of an annoying idiot like that? He's worse than Kenza you know!"

"HEY! What was that about!?"

"But you know it's true" Silver said, smiling brightly.

"No, it's not!"

"Yes, it is."

"Just shut up, you two! I can't take any more of your fighting!"

"Okay, Rose. But please, try to stay on your feet in the future, or I will have to piggyback you!" Kenza said with a wink before he got up and continued our search.

_'Just try that, insect-boy… I'll bite your head off!"_ Ten Ten's voice said in my head.

_'Just what I thought, Ten Ten!'_

_'Well, you and I are one and the same...'_

_'And yet so very different."_

"Rose, are you coming, or what?!"

"Coming!" I said before dusting myself of and jumping up in the tree again.

We had been searching all over the islands that made up the Wave Country by now, and yet we had no clue to where Gatou and his men were hiding. It was almost as if they had disappeared in a puff of smoke. Right now we were walking around on the streets in one of the bigger towns in the country, carefully hiding the fact that we were ninja.

"Maybe we should check in there?" Sensei said, nodding towards a suspicious looking bar where it seemed as if all of the thugs living in the wave country hung out.

"Do we really have to?" Kenza whined, like always. "Why would ninja have to enter a place like that?"

"I think he's right Kenza, where else would someone like Gatou hire the men to do his dirty work?"

"Well, rouge ninja is a better option than those…" he said and pointed at two drunken men walking out the door of the bar.

"But that would be much more expensive, and not to mention dangerous. Gatou is not the type of man to sacrifice money or his personal safety when there is another option."

"Yeah, you're probably right" he said while we walked towards the door, the smell off sweat and alcohol met us several feet before we even reached the building.

"This place is not for little kids and old men" a huge, muscular man said, appearing out of nowhere.

"Kids? Old men? I don't think you know who we are…" I said in a low voice.

"You have to speak up, girlie, I can't here you up here."

"Uh oh… He did not just say that" Kenza and Silver said, looking at each other with worried eyes, almost making me laugh at their silliness.

"What?!" I said a bit too loudly, my voice cracking a bit, making it seem as thou I had been offended by what he just had called me.

"You heard me, girlie, you have to speak up or we big, tall men won't be able hear you" he said with the kind of voice you'd use when you talk to a baby, and I just _had _to hit his face, _hard_.

"Rose… Maybe you shouldn't have hit the man so hard?" Sensei said, looking down at the unconscious man at my feet.

"That's what you get for calling me SHORT!" I said, still pretty annoyed by the rude man.

"That's what you got hung up on?" Kenza mumbled, making me raise an eyebrow. "Nothing."

"Really"

Everyone was staring at us when we entered the crowded room, whispering. We ordered some drinks and quietly sat down in one of the corners, listening carefully to all the whispering rumors travelling around the room.

"Did you see that girl?! She knocked Tsuyoi out with just one punch!"

"She can't be an ordinary girl, don't you think?"

"Maybe she's a rouge ninja or something!"

"Maybe… But she's only a little girl…"

"Yeah…" Is the fact that I beat that old geezer up the only interesting thing that's going on? The others didn't seem to have found anything of interest either listening in on the gossip.

_'Still nothing about this Gatou? I thought he would be dead by now.' _Ten Ten's voice said in my head.

_'So had I, but it seems as thou he is better at hiding than we had expected.'_

_'Maybe you've just been looking in the wrong places… Even thou I have to say, this place does look promising. This is definitely the kind of place where I'd expect one of his men to show up.'_

_'Yes, it sure is.'_

While I had been talking to Ten Ten three men had entered the pub, and were now walking towards us.

"Who is the brat that beat up Tsuyoi?!" they yelled in my face.

"Why do you ask?" I asked calmly.

"Because they have to pay! Do you guys really think you can challenge Gatou's men and get away with it?!"

Gatou?! We exchanged quick glances, confirming that we all had heard the same thing.

"I did it" I said calmly.

"This brat?" he said almost laughing. "Are you sure?"

"Absolutely! Why don't you ask that friend of yours? Or maybe he's still unconscious?" I said politely.

"You…" he growled lowly.

"Or maybe he's too scared to say anything?" I said, mocking them. "That's an entertaining possibility…"

"Shut up, brat! Don't you dare talk about our brother Tsuyoi like that!" he yelled at me, while the other two nodded in agreement.

"Brother, eh? Are you as weak as him then?"

"WE'RE NOT WEAK!" he screamed, before hitting me hard, making my mind go blank.

**Third Person POV:**

A thin line of blood started to appear where his nails grazed her skin, and her comrades started to back away, knowing what was about to happen.

Rose slowly turned her head beck towards the tree thugs, looking at them with cold eyes. Her hand moved up to her cheek, touching it, watching the red drops on her fingers.

"How dare he?" she mumbled, more to herself then to anyone else. "Making us bleed like this."

"What are you saying, girlie? Did we hurt you?" his voice was dripping of sarcasm.

"Hurt?" Rose said, crooking her head to the side while a creepy smile slowly started to appear on her lips. "Not at all. But this might hurt a little."

She started to move forward, quickly drawing her katana out of its hilt. The first guy fell to the ground in less than 3 seconds, a chocked expression on his face. The other two gasped and started to run away, but was killed before they even got close to the door.

"They got what they deserved for spilling our precious blood…"

**Rose's POV:**

The strong smell of blood in the room made me feel sick once I 'woke up'. It wasn't the first time this had happened._ 'And probably not the last' _I thought, making me sigh.

The last thing I remembered was that annoying guy screaming "WE'RE NOT WEAK!" and then hitting me… What happened then?

"Rose..." Kenza's voice said from somewhere close to me. "You just killed our only lead to the Gatou-person! BAKA!" he scolded me, and hit my head with his fist.

"Ouch! What was that for!"

"How do you suppose we are going to find him now?"

"Oh… Guess I did deserve that…" I said while looking around at the mess I created. There was blood covering almost everything, and everyone - except for my cleaver team of course - in the room.

"Can you clean up this mess, please? So I can think clearly…"

"Yeah"

"MILADY! WHAT'S WRONG! WHO DARES TO HURT YOU?!"

"Tsuki?" my huge wolf had suddenly appeared with a soft 'puff', looking for a fight. "It's all over, already…"

"WHAT! NO WAY!" he whined.

"Yes…" I said, before an idea popped into my head. "But there is something you could help me with."

"Anything, milady!"

"Then follow this sent to where their leader is hiding!" I said and gave him a piece of cloth from one of the bodies.

"No problem!"

"Good!"

"This is it." The house we'd arrived at was huge, and it was cleverly hidden in the deepest parts of the forest on the island. The building hung at least 9 feet of the ground, with a tree running through it at one side and attached to all surrounding trees with thick vires. And it must have had 6 floors at least. As I said, it was HUGE!

"This seems to be right, I mean it is sort of the perfect hideout this far out into nothing, and the size of it…!" Silver said, ticking my grey, furry friend of. "Even thou, he sure has bad taste, this place looks like an oversized beehive!"

"I know, right?" Kenza laughed at Silver's comment while Tsuki growled at her.

"Didn't I say we were in the right place already?!"

"I don't know…"

"Schhh! We have no idea who's inside! Don't make a fuss and spoil the mission!"

"Sorry, Milady, we didn't mean to…" Tsuki said, looking really sad about the fact that he almost ruined our mission.

"Talk for yourself, dog!" Silver sneered, making Tsuki angrier than he already was.

"Silver!" I said, hoping she would stop arguing for once.

"Fine."

"Tsuki, stay close to me for now." I said, hoping that would keep him from fighting with Silver.

"I won't let anyone hurt you Milady!"

"It wasn't my safety I was worried about…" I said as we started to move towards the oversized tree house.

"What is that supposed to mean, Milady?"

The rooms in the building were huge, and almost completely covered in marble and other kinds of pretty stones. Wonder how much this building could weigh, it's amazing that it hasn't fallen to the ground yet. But there was something very wrong with this place…

"Why is this beehive so freaking empty! Shouldn't there be at least one guard?!"

"You're right." Except for a couple of emergency exits and hidden doors there was absolutely no sign of security around. Wasn't it a little bit too convenient if we just walked in here and killed Gatou, a dangerous mobster-guy, without even having to face one single guard along the way? That wasn't right. How am I supposed to kill a completely defenseless guy?! I can't do it!

"Milady?" Tsuki whispered. "I can't smell anyone, except us, in this building… Those guys definitely came from here, but…"

"Then, where could they be…?" Sensei mumbled quietly for himself.

"The leaf ninja!" we both said at the same time.

"We have to go and help them, Sensei!"

"Yes, we should hurry."

"I'll go on ahead with Tsuki, you guys run as fast as you can, okay?"

"Yeah."

"Come one, Tsuki, let's go!" I said and jumped up on his back, and we ran towards the unfinished bridge as quick as his big paws could carry us. I just hope we're not too late…

There were a light mist covering the bridge, concealing most of the evidence of the battle that had been taking place there, but the smell of blood was obvious, it made me feel nauseous. And the menacing presences we'd felt a little while ago had us on our toes, but there didn't seem to be any danger hiding in the mist as far as we could see, but I felt weird, as if something bad was about to happen. I swallowed loudly. A bit further up ahead I could see black shadows moving around in the mist. And as I moved closer I could hear voices, shouting, screaming and the sound of someone dying.

"Don't look away" a familiar voice said close by. "The end of a man who lived a difficult life."

"Yeah…"

I got closer to the familiar voices, realizing that it was Kakashi and Naruto whom I'd been hearing. But there were someone else there, lying on the ground. Long black hair, a pretty face, a blue robe…

"H… Haku?" I whispered softly, kneeling beside the dead body, alerting the two ninjas of my presence. Something unfamiliarly warm and wet ran down my cheeks, was I crying?

"Rose?" someone was saying my name, but I wasn't paying attention anymore. In my head happy memories of the past were playing on repeat. Playing. Teasing. Laughing. Fighting. We'd been the best of friends once, but when my family died we lost all contact. And now he was dead, too. I was sobbing into my hands, and my body was shaking uncontrollably. I didn't know what to do, why do the people I care about always die like this? Why? Someone put his arm around me, trying to comfort me.

"He died protecting someone he loved" the person said as if he could read my mind. I started to relax when this person held me like this. I felt safe, as if it was my father holding me, as a silent promise that everything would be okay.

I'm not quite sure how long we sat like that it could have been a couple of seconds, it could have been hours, I didn't know, but a sudden happy scream pulled me back to reality.

"NARUTO! HE'S ALRIGHT! SASUKE-KUN IS ALIVE!" I looked up to see Naruto's chocked face, but at the same time he looked happy as the raven haired boy stood up and waved at his teammate. I was glad that he was okay, even thou I didn't really know him.

"I've been worried but…" someone said in my ear. "Sasuke is also alright… That's great." Suddenly I realized that the person comforting me had been Kakashi, which quickly made me jump up, and look away, embarrassed. I could feel him looking at me, but I refused to turn around, the redness of my face being the main reason.

"HEY! HEY! HEY! YOU GUYS ARE TOO AT EASE!" someone yelled, making us turn around. "DAMN NINJAS… YOU KILLED OUR MEAL TICKT…! YOU GUYS ARE DEAD! NOW WE'RE GONNA PILLAGE THIS CITY. AND TAKE ANYTHING OF VALUE! YEAH! YEAH! LET'S BEGIN!"

"Damn… This is bad" Kakashi said.

"KAKASHI SENSEI, DON'T YOU HAVE A SPECIAL JUTSU TO DEFEAT THEM ALL?" Naruto practically screamed.

"I can't…" but I interrupted before he could explain to his student.

"Leave it to me" I said softly, your Sensei doesn't have enough chakra left right now." I don't know exactly why I volunteered to take care of this angry mob of gangsters all by myself, but I think I might have been feeling a bit grateful to Kakashi for comforting me when I needed it. I took one last look at my friend's peaceful face, before taking a step towards the angry mob. Maybe we would see each other soon? But as soon as I started to move the mob stopped, so I did as well. Had my actions scared them? That didn't seem right… I turned around to see the villagers standing on the bridge, protecting what was precious to them.

"IF YOU COME ANY FURTHER ONTO OUR ISLAND…" a small boy in the middle of the huge mob of villagers yelled at the people behind me, "THE CITIZENS OF THIS COUNTRY WILL STOP YOU WITH EVERYTING WE'VE GOT!"

"INARI!" Naruto yelled happily, but surprised. They knew each other?

"Hehe" he laughed, "a hero shows up at the last second, right?"

"Okay! I can help out!" Naruto said, making some clones, and then Kakashi did the same, but a lot more of them. When I finally understood what they were up to I made some to, as did Tsuki. That seemed to have them hesitating even more, and they were eyeing the huge wolves wearily.

"GAAAAAH!" they screamed all of a sudden, as if they just realized that there were a whole bunch of ninjas, angry villagers and huge wolves standing in front of them.

"So… You want some if this!?" Kakashi asked, looking extremely scary, and I was happy I was at their side.

"NO WE DON'T!" they screamed and started to run the opposite way. "UWAH! LET'S GET OUTTA HERE!"

"WE DID IT!" the villagers sheered, and I just couldn't help but to sheer with them a little, when it suddenly started to snow. I turned around to see Kakashi picking someone up and carrying him closer to us.

"Snow this time of year…?" someone said, but I couldn't look away as Kakashi placed the person next to Haku's lifeless body, and I instinctively moved closer.

"Thanks… Kakashi…" the man said. "If I could… I'd like to… go to the same place… as you…" he said, looking at Haku's face, caressing it lightly. And I had to look away, feeling as if I were about to cry again now that it was all over. I heard Naruto speak to Kakashi, but I didn't pay attention. Just remembered all of our happy memories, hoping he'd remember me too, wherever he were now.

_"Catch me if you can, Rose-chan!" Haku was running in front of me, holding my favorite doll._

_"HEY! WAIT UP, HAKU-KUN! I WANT MY KITSUNE-CHAN BACK!"_

_"You'll get him back if you catch me first!" He suddenly disappeared from my view, the ground racing towards me._

_"Ow…"I mumbled, rubbing my knee._

_"Are you okay, Rose-chan?! You're bleeding!"_

_"It hurts…"I was crying, but trying to not show Haku that._

_"I'm sorry… Here…" I got my Kitsune-chan back before he lifted me up, and carried me on his back, back to the house, so that someone could look at the scrape on my knee._

He would always do that, tease me, take my dolls and run away, but when I got hurt he would take care of me… I missed him so much… A lone tear slowly ran down my cheek.


End file.
